Calls for Amelia Earhart museum to reopen in Derry

"There is nothing here any more," shrugs 13-year-old Amelia Doherty, standing by an abandoned museum on the spot where her namesake Amelia Earhart made history 90 years ago on Saturday.

In an elevated field on the northern outskirts of Derry city on May 21st, 1932, Earhart brought her famed red Lockheed Vega to a shuddering stop after a gruelling 15-hour solo journey across the Atlantic.

Sealing her fate as the first woman to do so, the then 34-year-old pioneer from Atchinson, Kansas, had overcome not just the vast, lonely ocean but also a difficult upbringing to become a global aviation, feminist and fashion icon.

"I feel disappointed that there is nothing here," says Doherty looking over the forlorn site, with sweeping views across to nearby Scalp and Eskaheen mountains in Co Donegal and down to Lough Foyle. "It is sad."

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The Foyle College student's great great grandfather was Robert Gallagher, who owned the cow pasture on which Earhart landed, sometime after 1:30pm, after having been spotted circling the city.

“The machine swept along the field, and appeared as if it would crash through the hedge,” the Weekend Irish Times reported days later.

“But Earhart locked on the wheel brakes of the undercarriage and swung the machine to a standstill within a few yards of farm hand William McCallion who was engaged in milking cows.

“’Come far?’ inquired McCallion

“‘From Newfoundland,’ was the laconic reply.”

After years of lobbying by local enthusiasts dedicated to keeping Ireland’s unique claim to Earhart’s legacy alive, a small cottage museum was opened on the site in 2003.

Just five years later it was shuttered by owners Derry City Council, citing cost-cutting measures.

Critics derided it as a false economy, arguing the local authority was neglecting a would-be tourism goldmine dedicated to one of the world’s most famous heroines.

A number of the artefacts were moved to other council-owned facilities, including a lounge named after Earhart at City Of Derry Airport, as attempts to rebrand the airport in her honour failed. Some are in storage.

Derry City and Strabane District Council, which replaced Derry City Council, funded the Amelia Earhart Legacy Association for this weekend's anniversary celebrations in recognition, it says, of the "huge importance of Amelia Earhart's connections with the city".

Events include a ticketed black-tie dinner, a vintage ball, a fly-past, a new mural, a walking tour, a fashion show and a dance performance telling Earhart’s story.

The adventurer’s connections with the city “remain a key tourism attraction… in telling our unique story to a global audience”, a council spokeswoman said.

But for David Cregan (71), who helped his father build the now discarded museum with stone from the original Gallagher's homestead, the authorities have "sullied" Earhart's link with Ireland.

Overseas tourists regularly leave the landing site shocked by what they found, he says. “They come from all over America,” he adds.

“They ask where the Earhart centre is – there is one sign at the bottom of the road, but I’ve seen bigger car stickers. Then when you tell them it is shut, they just look at you incredulously, and ask do I know the history.

“I’ve seen busloads of visitors pull up here and they have to get back on the bus and head off again because there is nothing here. It’s not good enough.”

Every July in her birthplace Atchinson, an Amelia Earhart Festival attracts up to 40,000 visitors – about four times the city's population.

Amelia Earhart vanished in the Pacific Ocean and was never found.

Earhart's Lockheed Vega, in which she landed in Derry, is a centrepiece attraction at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in the US.

There are more than 33,000 parks, statues, memorials and buildings named after Amelia Earhart in the US alone, says Nicole McElhinney, co-founder of the Amelia Earhart Legacy Association.

“Ireland does not get Amelia. She just does not get nearly the recognition she should get on the island,” she says.

Earhart, along with her aviation feats, was a diesel mechanic, a social worker, a university lecturer and a writer.

Young Amelia Doherty, who wants to be a fashion designer, says Amelia Earhart is a great role model for young women.

“My mother told me about how my great great grandfather was really surprised when she landed in his field – because she was the first woman he had ever seen wearing trousers. I don’t think it was the plane landing that shocked him.

“People don’t know enough about her. This museum needs to be fixed up and reopened, with exhibits telling her story. Everyone should know about Amelia Earhart.”